The first time I met Zein was nearly two decades ago, while she waitressed at a Middle Eastern restaurant near my home in Brooklyn. Directing her natural warmth toward my then two-year old daughter allowed for a calm meal, and we quickly forged a unique and lasting connection with one another. Ever since that encounter, I often gravitated toward her and eventually became introduced to her “family” -- women like her who are from upper class families in Lahore, Pakistan. Strict religious values made living in her homeland as an openly gay women, unaccepted and even dangerous. It was this fear of persecution that led Zein to petition our courts for asylum.

I began photographing them to try and understand how their choice to move so far from what was familiar, had impacted their lives. What became evident was a paradox of what it meant to coexist here - living as they wished, while also maintaining ties to the traditional customs and rituals of home. I have found that although they have chosen to leave their homeland and embrace life here as modern women, they have nonetheless remained tethered to their roots.

By depicting Zein and her circle of friends as sensual, empowered females, I hope to dispel the notions of how we often view women born into conservative societies. Contrary to such stereotypes, these women define a young, alternative immigrant experience in urban, post 9/11 America.